Durban foodie news

I haven’t done a foodie post in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been munching my way around Durban! I’ve probably consumed the equivalent of small country’s GDP, but hell it’s been good ;)

The most memorable was a dinner at Harvey’s to commemorate the closing of El Bulli. I was invited by my lovely friend Bianca and her husband Tory and we feasted along with about 50 guests at a private dinner on Sunday 31st July, in conjunction with the Durban International Film festival’s screening of the documentary El Bulli: Cooking in Progress.
Andrew Draper concoted a fascinating and equally delicious 6 course tasting menu including beef flavoured marshmallows, beetroot soup, egg yolks served in potato rosti baskets, caviar potatoes, steamed chicken parcels with creamy yogurt pesto (these were insane), white chocolate mousse with peach champagne, guava sweetmeats and a chocolate ganache tart served with ancient blue cheese – everything was delicious! It was an incredible culinary adventure, which I believe every meal is like at El Bulli, so it was a magnificent tribute to the restaurant crowned World’s Best Restaurant 5 times by Restaurant Magazine. I was incredibly impressed with Andrew’s creativity and attention to detail and have vowed to eat at Harvey’s more often.Harvey’s is at 465 Innes Road, Contact 031 312 5706.My new favourite neighbourhood restaurant is Unity which the owners of Cafe 1999 have opened a few doors away in Silverton Road. It’s just what the Berea needed and we now have a place to pop in for a quick bite, a few drinks or a lazy evening meal. Decor is minimalist with an emphasis on raw timber and brick and I love their logo which features a pig. There are various starters to order individually, or you can combine a few and make them into a platter – highly recommended. The olives, chicken livers and calamari were so good, we ordered them twice!Contact 031 202 3406.I went to the opening of Bar Ba Coa in Umhlanga a few weeks ago. This Argentinian steakhouse is owned by the same guys who own Butcher Boys, so the focus is on meat, but it’s been given an Argentinian flavour – cooked over hot coals as opposed to grilled and dry spiced with lashings of chimichurri sauce – drool! We shared a few starters and then each ordered a main course to share amongst us. I dont often order chicken in restaurants, but the Barbacoa baby chicken was seriously good and the chicken liver starter was sublime – lots of sauce and a good bite.
There’s a good selection of chicken and fish, mixed grills & steaks – including beef, pork, lamb & game, delicious hamburgers – and for the ladies, some good salads as well.
We finished off our meal with ice cream cones – they have a Mozart freezer in the restaurant which you can have scooped into sugar cones – love it!Bar Ba Coa is in the old FNB premises on the Umhlanga strip in the Village.Another new local, is Mooki Noodle Bar in Glenwood, an asian inspired restaurant with a focus on noodles – ramen (thin wheat & egg), udon (japanese wheat flour) and mai fun (fine vermicelli rice flour) noodles to be exact. Choose your meat and your sauce or have fried rice and you’ll get a one bowl wonder of yumminess!
There are also starters – very reasonably priced – fish cakes, chicken bites, calamari salad, spring rolls and noodle & tom yum soups and they feature main course specials every day.Mooki is at 190 Brand Road, contact 031 811 9199.

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About Ask Ashe

Brand Consultant + Editor

I’m Nicola Ashe - ad exec turned brand consultant, who quit the rate race in 2014, so I could finally breathe again. I live in Durban, South Africa with my husband and 3 rescue dogs and run Ask Ashe as a brand consulting business, helping people create and curate their own brands. But it's also my little space on the web, where I've shared design, decor, food, travel or lifestyle snippets since 2008.